Dark Days
by Riskyroll22
Summary: The story of Nesrith, urchin turned necromancer. After a fateful encounter with an ancient and terrible relic, she vows to make her name feared across the land, no matter the cost.
1. Chapter 1

The city was filled with the filth of the masses. Dirt was etched into the paving stones from thousands of dirty feet, the smell of filth permeated the air, punctuated by the bitter tang of smoke tinged clothes of the workers coming back from their long day.. Nesrith knew that there were portions of the city of Fillinor that weren't tarnished by the unwashed masses, but those areas weren't suitable for her purposes. More specifically, they weren't suitable for her. A shadow dragon was not one that could walk through public areas without attracting the wrong sort of attention. As she walked through the streets, she found herself reminiscing about her childhood, and the memories of scrounging and stealing for survival… and how it had all changed.

Nesrith hadn't ever really fit in as a child, even by urchin standards she wasn't particularly strong, nor was she able to stand the thought of begging. On top of all that, her disdain for most people made joining the child gangs difficult. Her life was a constant fight for survival, and she knew that it wouldn't last. The book had changed all of that.

The merchant's house was empty six months of the year and it was the perfect place to steal a few oddities to fence off for food and shelter. It was a no brainer to Nesrith. It should have been the simplest thing, but she hadn't counted on the book sitting there. It had sat there on the pedestal apart from all the other amazing wares the elderly merchant had collected over the years. Plainly, it had to be more valuable than the rest. Who could really blame her for going up to it and peeking inside? Not even the patchwork cover that looked like, but was certainly not, leather could dissuade her from her prize.

As the book had fallen open, a shadow darker than night had erupted from it, engulfing her in shadows that felt like reaching tentacles. Try as she might to swat away whatever attacked her, it was too late. Cold seeped into her bones and she wretched as the meager meal she'd stolen earlier that day made another appearance. Nesrith had passed out on the cold marble floor, and when she awoke everything had changed. Her heart had stopped, the highlighting of beautiful green scales that followed her bone structure across her body had gone black as night. She had heard of beings cloaked in shadows as she now was; had heard them whispered about in tales to scare little children into following the rules. Shadow dragon.

Nesrith should have been terrified, should have panicked more than she had at any point before, yet she could feel nothing. She was nothing. Across the room, the Book of Vile Darkness called to her. It beckoned her to look and see what lay within. Power radiated from the blank pages that lay before her.

A voice slid into Nesrith's mind smoothly, " _I will show you power the likes of which you have never known_."

Just like that she was hooked.

* * *

The Coliseum roared to life with the voices of thousands of people cheering; jarring her out of her memories. It was perhaps the last place on the planet she wanted to be, but there was an important fight this day. Not to mention plenty of the supplies Nesrith desperately needed. The crowd jostled her as everyone rushed forward to get a better look at the arena, causing her to clutch her hood about her. No sense causing undue panic before the show even started by revealing her dead skin and the shadows that clung to her like a second skin.

A voice amplified by magic sounded out across the Coliseum, "And now for the big event ladies and gentlemen! Our reigning champ is taking on an up and comer from the Orcish Plains! Please welcome our undefeated champion, Balthazar!"

A red dragonborn strutted out into the dusty fighting pit, his sword held aloft above him. He ran a lap around the outer edges, calling out to his fans and winking at pretty girls. _Of course_ , Nesrith thought, _he hasn't changed a bit_.

"Next into the arena comes an Orc who hasn't lost a fight yet, even if he has lost some body parts. Please welcome, Gell the One-Eyed!'

From the opposite end of the stadium entered a towering Orc, easily the biggest one Nesrith had ever seen. He didn't showboat around the stadium like Balthazar; he didn't need to. His hulking form and heavy breathing as he stared down his opponent was enough to send the crowds into fits of screams and calls for him to kill his opponent.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the fight begin!"

Gell charged his opponent immediately, going straight for the kill with a look of rage in his eyes. Balthazar, on the other hand, was a consummate professional about gladiator fighting. His job was to put on a show for the people, and that was what he excelled at. He dodged the oncoming attack with a surprising amount of grace, considering he wasn't exactly small even compared to the hulking Orc. Balthazar even spit out a laugh in his face after a particularly bad swing of Gell's sword. That confidence cost him though, as his laugh distracted him just long enough for Gell to bring his sword up in a backhand slash, catching the red dragonborn across the chest. Blood spurted out and covered the sand as he reeled back. Gell smiled viciously, baring his teeth at Balthazar as he went in for the kill. Somehow, despite the blood pouring from the wound, Balthazar had anticipated this and brought his sword up straight through the heart of Gell the One-Eyed.

It was over as both men collapsed onto the ground.

"Balthazar wins again, folks!" The voice called out joyously, as if their favorite fighter wasn't slowly bleeding out on the ground before them.

Slaves scurried in to the arena and dragged off the bodies. One headed towards the infirmary, the other to the pile of the dead left behind after a day at the Coliseum.

Nesrith watched blandly, noting where they dragged each of them. The fight had gone even better than she could have hoped.

As the masses headed back out to their dismal lives, Nesrith walked in the other direction. The crowd was abuzz with the fate of their favorite fighter, mostly as they argued with the bookies about whether it was really a win for them. No one noticed one lone woman as she walked into the slave's quarters. It was too easy really, as the shadows around each corner welcomed her and helped hide her from the prying eyes she sought to avoid. In no time at all she stood in front of her childhood friend, the man who had saved her countless times from the cruel life of an orphan.

Bandages spread across his bare chest, blooming red with his life blood as he fought against death.

"Hello Balthazar, you've certainly looked better," Nesrith said as if she was talking to her friend over a cup of coffee.

He didn't respond unsurprisingly. Balthazar was far too busy fighting to survive an almost certainly fatal injury.

Out of her cloak Nesrith pulled forth the book. It hummed in contentment in her hands as she laid it on her friend's chest. Once again, her friend would help her, although perhaps not in a way he would choose to.

"Thank you for this by the way," Nesrith pulled a dagger from her cloak, and casually dragged it across his throat.

Blood poured down in a river onto the book, looking like it would drown the pages and render them useless. After a brief moment the pages began to soak up every drop of blood that landed on it. A wave of pleasure hit her as the book nearly purred in happiness in her mind. A wicked grin broke across Nesrith's face as the writing began to appear on the blank pages of the Book of Vile Darkness.

* * *

When the book had fallen into her newly dead hands the pages had been blank. No matter what spells she had cast, no matter how hard she begged for the book to show her what it hid, nothing happened. The book lay inert; almost like it was mocking her. So now, she was some sort of undead creature of shadows with a book of unmentionable power but only able to cast a few low power spells. It was the most infuriating thing she had ever experienced.

As it was Nesrith was still relegated to stealing to survive. It was significantly more difficult as well, considering anyone who spotted her deformed skin would scream and attract all manner of hell, which lead to moments like the current one. While trying to grab a small brooch from a travelling merchants pocket someone had caught sight of her shadow draped hand. Now, a guard had her by the back of the neck and was trying to drag her off for a beating.

"Now look, it really wasn't what it looked like. That man was clearly delusional," The argument was getting her nowhere.

The guard merely clutched her neck tighter trying to leave bruises on skin that was no longer living. With a sigh she reached into her pocket and grabbed the sharp dagger that she kept tucked away in the voluminous folds of her cloak. Nesrith palmed the dagger as she let the guard drag her into a quiet alley. The second he released her she spun and brought the dagger down into his neck in a wicked arc. He tried to cry out for help, but there was no chance for him. The steel was embedded deep in his neck and the blood gushed out of the wound in time with his failing heartbeat. Bright red splattered against Nesrith as she watched the man die.

This was not her first kill. It was nowhere near her first. Nesrith had roamed the streets since she was a child. In the world of street urchins, it was kill to survive. If you didn't, you were liable to be the one dead at another hungry kids hands for the heel of bread in your pocket. This was different though. She could practically feel the cold hand of death clenching around the guard's heart, and she reveled in it. Nesrith thought she could even feel the remnants of her dead heart racing in excitement. It took her only a moment longer to realize these feelings were not coming from her. Instead, near her heart, the book nestled in her cloak thrummed in time to the blood spattering against her. Her hands shook slightly as she pulled the book out. Blood had hit the edge of it, Nesrith noticed distantly.

Before her eyes the blood seeped into the book as if it had never been there, " _Open me_ ," the book whispered into her mind.

On what had once held no information whatsoever, there was now a ritual slowly rising up on the first page. _Animate Dead_ it read along the top.

Nesrith nearly wept in joy into the puddle of blood surrounding her feet. 


	2. Chapter 2

Around the back of the Coliseum was the pile of the dead. Stripped clean of anything valuable, no longer able to earn their master's money, the dead from the gladiator fights were tossed out like a heap of trash. It was perfect.

Gell's body lay on top of a pile of corpses, his one eye open and staring at Nesrith. He was the perfect specimen for the ritual the book had given her. It took her longer than she had hoped to drag his body to an abandoned home and prepare the space. It was nothing compared to how difficult the final step was. The ritual called for two innocent souls to be sacrificed.

"How in the world do you judge if a soul is innocent?" She pondered over the slowly decomposing corpse.

For a moment she stood, draped in shadows, as one clawed finger tapped her chin thoughtfully. Many philosophical answers to the question breezed through her mind, but none of them would actually do her any good in practice.

" _Only the young are innocent_ ," the voice supplied to her, coaching her.

For a moment her gut seized in revulsion. For the shortest moment she had regrets about where her life had lead her. For the smallest second, some deeply buried part of her cried out in anguish.

But the book soothed her, showing her a picture of how easy it could be. Two orphans like she was, lost and afraid on the streets. Would it not be kinder to end their suffering for a cause? Would it not be so easy to find them in the hidden places she frequented herself when she was young? Their lives would be full of hardships if they managed to survive. How many times had she found the cold body of someone she called a friend on the streets? They died without fanfare, they died for nothing. This way, they would die for a reason.

* * *

It was almost too easy. It had taken less than an hour to find two small boys huddled together in an alley near a restaurant that was notorious for handing out free food to hungry children. They were smaller than the rest and it was clear they had been losing the jostle between children to get to the food for a long time. When she had handed them a small bundle of food she had lifted from a commuting laborer they had looked up at her as if she was their savior, and not their doom.

"Where are you boys sleeping tonight? Down by the docks?" Nesrith struggled to keep her voice even and vaguely disinterested.

The older of the brothers nodded excitedly as he devoured an apple. The younger was still half hidden behind his protector, and Nesrith had to blink rapidly to dismiss the memory of her doing the same behind Balthazar many years ago. They were both humans, and their parents had died from the plague that had swept the city just a few months ago. No one wanted to take them in, and no one would miss them when they were gone.

"Well, I know an abandoned house near the Coliseum that the guards are paid off to avoid. It's where I usually stay the night," they were just young enough to blindly trust her when she said that.

Through the dark alleys they followed her, Nesrith pointed out little tips and tricks for hiding and avoiding guards looking for a fight. She told them how to survive as she led them to their death.

The smell of decay was lingering around the home; the sickly sweet smell of flesh rotting wafted out through the broken windows. Neither boy seemed to particularly care, it was a well known fact that the body dump for the Coliseum was nearby. All of it was easier than she had though. The children were too shocked by the plainly dark ritual set up in the middle of the home to see her take out her dagger. Their blood sprayed across the body of Gell, and the smallest piece of her soul that remained withered away as they died.

 _There's no time for that,_ she thought. Instead, she stared at the inert body now covered in innocent blood. It should work. It had to have worked. Every line was crisp and clear, marked with the proper runes. Unless the two children she'd murdered weren't innocent. Just as Nesrith began to let out a string of curses that would make a sailor blush, something happened. Gell jolted upwards suddenly, his eye wide and staring at her. It had worked, yet somehow the result was a tad… underwhelming.

"You're back," Was all Nesrith could say in her stunned state.

In front of her was a wight. An undead creature that could help her build an army to destroy the world. Finally, the power she was promised was pounding through her veins and yet, in the back of her mind she got the feeling that the book was unimpressed with her. It didn't matter, she had created an intelligent undead and her wishes were finally coming true. She would burn the world around her, smiting down anyone who got in her way as she built herself a world she not only belonged in, but ruled over. A smile so big it hurt spread across her face.

"Rise, Gell," She spoke in her most imperious voice.

The lumbering Orc merely sat there, staring at her.

"You… you are intelligent, right? That's what the book said you would be," Nesrith pulled said book from her cloak and reread the passage just in case when he didn't respond.

Clearly written in the text she had brought forth with her friend's blood were the words: _Raise Wight, an intelligent zombie commander that feeds on the life force of the living_.

"Maybe you need to eat?" She pondered as she stared at the dead eyed being.

In response, Gell bared his teeth. Well, that was as good as an affirmative. Like a dog, she instructed him to stay put and she turned to find yet another person to sacrifice to this endeavor.

Not three blocks away, she found as good a candidate as any. It was a shop she had fenced stolen goods in a few times with a small living area over top that. An elderly elven couple lived and worked there if she remembered correctly. Elves were the perfect target in the city of Filinor. The Dragon Federation in its entirety weren't known for being fond of anyone who wasn't dragonborn to begin with, but elves and tieflings especially were looked down upon. Even if someone noticed one go missing, it wasn't likely that anyone would care.

Nesrith took her time in casing the place. Each window was inspected for signs of movement, each entrance noted and tucked away in her mental map of the small building. Finally, she concluded the staircase leading up to the second floor was the best place as any to enter. Despite losing what she considered to be her substantial good looks to the process of becoming a Shadow Dragon, it certainly had its upsides. One of those being the fact that her already honed sneaking skills seemed even better now that she was one with the shadows.

The door to their apartment wasn't even locked. Inside, the apartment was spartan but kept clean. A woman's touch. Laying in the bed, sleeping soundly, laid an elven couple. Without hesitation – after what she had just done this barely even registered on her conscience – Nesrith knocked the man over the head with the hilt of her dagger. Carefully, she pulled him out of the bed and over her shoulders. His wife didn't even stir.

Nesrith climbed out the window and landed softly on the ground below. Even she was a little shocked at how easy that had been. No one noticed her with her cargo slung over her shoulders even as she boldly strode down the street. Perhaps luck was finally on her side.

Gell wasted no time when she tossed the man at his feet. Grabbing the man close to him the already elderly man aged rapidly. His skin sagged as he seemed to shrink into himself until he finally rattled out his last breath. Gell inhaled deeply and growled out loud in pure pleasure.

"So, feeling better yet?" Nesrith asked calmly.

Gell grunted, but stood and faced her. He seemed to vibrate with energy now, and she felt a strange tug in her mind. The magic she had used to create Gell still swirled in her mind, connecting them like a dog on a leash is connected to his master. With a tug she yanked him forward a few steps against his will.

"What do you want?" Gell growled as he strained against the bonds placed on him.

A wicked grin spread across Nesrith's face, "I want to burn this city to the ground and rule over the ashes. I want to destroy anyone who opposes me. And I want you to help me by being my weapon."

He didn't acknowledge her for a moment as he mulled over her words. It was plain that he was a little slow, and she wondered if perhaps the ritual caused those she brought back to lose some of their intelligence. The book pushed out a feeling of denial, tinged with a bit of disappointment. It seemed that maybe Gell wasn't the best specimen to bring back to begin with.

Either way, the Orc nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."

A small sigh of relief escaped her. It would have been exhausting to hold on to the mental leash at all times and bend him to her will. Life would be much easier if he cooperated. At their feet the elven man staggered to his feet, his jaw hanging open as soft groans escaped him. Finally, she had her army, or the beginnings of one at least.

* * *

Strange dreams haunted her sleep that night. A hut stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and a mighty storm crashed waves brutally against the shore. Inside the hut a gaunt man touched by shadows was bent over a book, greedily drinking in every word that was written there. It smelled as if he hadn't bathed in months; perhaps hadn't even moved in months, he was so enraptured. As she observed the scene she noticed something. The book that he caressed so gently seemed to have a strange cover. The mottled cover seemed to be made of humanoid skin. Just as she realized that, the door to the hut was kicked in. Men in bright armor marked with insignia of a man pinned to the ground with a sword through his back flooded into the hut. They were shouting in a strange language, but the man at the desk didn't pay any attention to them until they pulled him away from the book. The second his line of sight broke he began to thrash and howl like they were gutting him. None of the men even flinched. Instead, they threw him to the ground over a stump and separated his head from his body without hesitation.

As the head of the man hit the ground Nesrith shot awake in the abandoned building that Gell had been raised in. Immediately she pulled out the book that she kept next to her dead heart. The cover of mottled flesh stared back at her, looking just as it had in the dream. She shook off the remnants of the vision. Of course she dreamt of the book, it was her entire life now.

Gell sat across from her looking restless as his zombie milled around the room, bumping into walls. She had only slept for a couple of hours; it was still dark outside. It was enough, she didn't really need to sleep anyways. It only happened out of habit at this point.

"Alright, Gell, let's get started," She said.

As a wight, he could command a small group of zombies he created. Ideally, she would have several commanders like him leading the bulk of her army. First things first, Gell needed more under his command.

"Go out and get as many zombies under your control as you can. Do it stealthily. That is critical. If we're found out while we're still so few it's over. Do you understand?"

He nodded and immediately walked out of the building, his zombie trailing behind. It made her uneasy to send him out by himself to do this, he certainly didn't seem very smart, but they would only draw more attention to the undead Orc if a shadow dragon was following him around. So she busied herself cleaning up the remnants of the ritual instead. Abandoned houses such as this were frequented by drifters such as herself, and until she had more power she couldn't risk being caught.

It didn't take long to clean it all with her magic. Her ability to perform magic was her greatest pride. Balthazar had learned to wield a sword young, and she had tried to follow along. He wouldn't always be there to protect her. However, as the weeks of sparring turned into months, and then a year, it became clear that no matter how much she trained Nesrith could barely last a minute in a physical fight. She began to fear that she would never survive when Balthazar inevitably found a job or tired of her hiding behind him every day. It was plain that her body was weak, but her mind was her greatest strength. So, she had found a spot in the rafters of the local university where they taught mages and wizards. Nesrith would crawl up there every morning, hours before the first person stirred, and leave long after everyone had left. She did this for years, learning everything she could about magic and how to wield it. It came easily to her, easier than many of the students she watched day after day. Some of them would take years to show even a spark of ability, and years longer to perform their first real spell. But magic responded to her like an old friend who had been waiting for her to call on it. The look on Balthazar's face was delightfully stupefied when he went to hack at her with his wooden sword and had instead found himself blasted back with burns all down his front.

The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon, and Nesrith took a moment to watch as she contemplated her future. That calming moment lasted only about thirty seconds before the dark magic of the book tugged hard at her consciousness. In her mind's eye she could see Gell being chased by a few guards who had plainly caught sight of the undead monstrosity.

"Oh, hell," Nesrith muttered.

Of course the brute couldn't stay unobserved for even a few hours. She took off through the streets, following Gell's path as he tried to stay ahead of the guards and not attract more attention. As she ran she shouted commands for him to turn at certain places, leading the guards towards her. He fought against her will, wanting to turn and beat the guards to death himself.

Gell came around the corner ahead of her and she let him come to a stop at her side. The guards barreled directly into the fireball she cast. They didn't last long between the flames she conjured and Gell literally ripping a few of them limb from limb. After all the witnesses were dead at their feet, Nesrith burnt the bodies until they were nothing but ash.

Then, she turned on her creation, "What the hell is wrong with you? You couldn't even last half a day without me standing over your shoulder?"

"Guards were fast," Was all he grunted out.

"You're a godsdamn idiot Gell."

He just shrugged at her and picked out a piece of skin from under his thumbnail.

Nesrith let out a long sigh as she rubbed her temples, "Look, there's an abandoned Coliseum in the old quarter of town. The only people that go there are adventurers who think they can clear out the spirits of the dead. Go there and do not move, do you understand me?"

Gell grunted and lumbered off in the direction, the mental leash tugging him towards his destination. Hopefully he would make it there without any more incidents. A few dead guards would not cause too much ruckus, but if more went missing it would be a disaster.

The Coliseum would be fine for a little while to hold Gell; however, it wasn't easily defensible. Not to mention an army of the undead would bring attention in the crowded slums it resided in. No one would listen to the poor's complaints at first, but eventually some do-gooder would look into the claims and have to go conveniently missing. It was all a huge mess.

And so began the hunt for a better place to build her army. The first and best idea she had was the docks. Located just outside the city walls and frequented as a major trade destination, it was so busy and transient no one would notice anyone going missing or some strangers lurking in the shadows.

When she arrived, she noticed there was a strange commotion around the docks. There wasn't the normal crush of people scurrying to and from the boats. As a matter of fact, as she skulked through the shadows closer to the wharf's themselves she saw a strange ship dominating the harbor. Ship was probably not the right word, Nesrith mused to herself, as it appeared to be bigger than most mansions in the city. That, and there was several floors worth of canons protruding from both sides. What in the world was a warship doing here?

Streams of soldiers started to file off the ship in orderly lines. As they began to come closer to where Nesrith stood she felt a shock of fear. On the arms of their uniforms there was a horrifyingly familiar insignia. A man pinned to the ground with a sword through his back. From the depths of her mind the book sent waves of fear. The urge to run from these soldiers who exuded a disgusting amount of radiant energy was nearly overpowering. These were soldiers who rooted out evil wherever they found it, and plainly the book was trying to warn her they had the scent of it. They were searching for her.

" _The Knights of Af, they are here._ "

She rushed back through the streets using every secret pathway she had ever known. It was imperative she make sure that Gell was well hidden. When she arrived at the large, crumbling building she sent out a fervent wish to the universe that her plans hadn't been undone before she'd even really started. Under the Coliseum was a maze of tunnels that used to house the slaves made to fight here and was now meant to be home to Gell. When Nesrith entered the tunnel she found several zombies milling around while Gell lounged against the wall, cleaning off the sword he now had.

"What happened here?" She asked.

"Some adventurers wanted to clear out the ghosts in here. Now they're zombies."

Nothing like a simple Orc to lighten the anxiety that she was feeling

"Well, we need to get our shit together Gell. We've got radiant knights hunting for us up there. Go up there and grab me a few corpses, I need to create a diversion," Nesrith rubbed her hands together in anticipation. 


	3. Chapter 3

Gell managed to grab her nearly a dozen fresh corpses and one live one. When she was done she had a small group of undead lead by a blood elemental ready to distract the Knights. Whispering her commands into what was left of their minds, they began a trek to a nearby town called Mirth. There, they would terrify the town, murdering all who were not fast enough to escape. Hopefully, that would distract the Knights or trick them into thinking that she was moving North.

Still, Nesrith paced the catacombs of her new lair, "It's too soon. I need more time to bolster my ranks," she muttered aloud.

"What ranks?" Gell asked as he watched her passively.

"That's the damn point Gell! All I have is you, and you're mediocre at best. What we need is subtlety while we grow— "

The air was knocked out of her suddenly. The world wavered in front of her as she felt the familiar suffocation of the book's consciousness. As Gell's face faded from her sight, something else became visible. She was looking into the red eye of a snake. Reflected on the glossy surface was a tall tower built in the style of the Free Cities.

With a gasp, Nesrith came back into reality as the vision cleared. She was laid out on the ground with a mouthful of acidic soil. Her face ached from where she had made contact, but she was invigorated from the vision. She had spoken of subtlety and the book had answered her, showed her the path she needed to take. Nesrith jumped to her feet in excitement, ignoring Gell's eyes on her.

"I'll be back, stay hidden."

* * *

The Tower she had seen had been a gift from the Free Cities as a trading overture. It wasn't terribly far from the lair, but the streets were packed with the Knights of Af. They grabbed random people off the streets and interrogated them at sword point.

"Have you seen anyone suspicious? A book with a mottled cover? Any undead?"

If she had a pulse, her heart would be racing with fear. They were close to her and plainly on guard. Even with all that, she found the tower from her vision. Milling around the tower were masses of people, all seeming agitated. Nesrith took her time looking around before she approached. It took her only a few minutes to realize why so many people were hanging around, and why they were so obviously messed up. Cloaked figures hung around the plaza that was in the shadow of the tower, and every so often they would 'accidentally' bump into people. Watching closely, it was plain to see they were handing out small vials. It was clearly a drug operation that was operating out of here. She took a few more minutes to try to formulate a plan of attack. How does one get into a tower that is run by a gang selling drugs? Nesrith rolled her shoulders and held herself as straight as possible. Then, she began walking as if she had a great purpose straight into the tower.

The ground floor was emptied out of furniture, leaving behind only a large vat in the center of the room. A sickly green liquid bubbled inside of it, sending out a hazy smoke that filled the space. Almost immediately her head started to swim from the drug fumes, but she didn't react. She kept her pace steady and headed straight for the large double doors that were on the other side of the room. Perhaps if she just looked as if she belonged here no one would react to her. A hand shot out from the darkness just as she had nearly reached the doors beyond. At first glance it looked like a hand, but instead a gaggle of snakes wrapped around her arm in a strange facsimile of a hand.

"Halt," the voice attached to it whispered, "Who are you?"

Despite her overwhelming panic, Nesrith turned and looked at him haughtily, "I have important business to attend to, and you are holding me up."

"That doesssssn't answer my quesssstion," each s came out as a hiss.

"Because it is none of your business who I am. Do you want to be the one to explain why I couldn't make my appointment up there?" Sweat was trickling down her back as she hoped that her imperious act would scare him into submission.

For a moment they stared into each other's eyes in what could be an intimate moment, but was instead a sheer battle of wills.

"Fine," he whispered as he moved back into the shadows.

The adrenaline surge almost knocked her over. How in the world had that worked?

Turning on her heel she opened the doors with a bang of pure victory. What lay on the other side were not the stairs that she expected. Rather than a stair case up to the top of the tower there was merely a stone platform sitting there. That was it. No way up the tower. Nesrith swore under her breath. What in the world was she going to do now? If she turned around the gatekeeper would know she had lied to get in.

"Well, shit. Here goes nothing I guess," Nesrith casually stood on the stone platform as if she knew what she was doing.

With a loud clang the room shuddered around her and the floor started to rise up beneath her. Knees shaking, hands sweaty, she tried to pretend this was all totally normal and there definitely wasn't snake eyes peering at her through holes in the walls as she ascended. When the floor shuddered to a halt in front of another set of doors she almost felt like she believed what she had been telling herself.

Inside she found a large circular room set up almost like an office mixed with a laboratory. Bright open windows were on every wall, floor to ceiling, casting light everywhere. On a table in the middle of the room was a strange corpse with skin a dark grey color and tentacles extending from its chin. Something inside of Nesrith sang out in happiness at the obvious research that was being conducted on the strange being. Parts of it were dissected and pinned open to observe the inner workings. Without noticing she was standing over it, investigating the organs inside. Each one was in a different place than it should be, and if she peered behind the heart in the stomach she could see the edge of an organ she had never seen in other corpses…

"And just what do you think you're doing?" A hissing voice slid across the back of her neck.

Whipping around she found herself staring into red snake eyes that were incredibly familiar. The body of the man was clearly human with a slight tan to his lighter skin color. His lean body was highlighted with black scales tinged with red flecks that reminded her of how she looked before she turned into a shadow dragon. Where they differed was that in certain lights she looked like she could pass for human before, but his head was that of a cobra and obviously so. The scales covered every inch of his skin from the neck up, curving over a hood that was open and threatening.

Well, so far she'd faked it till she made it, "Observing an interesting specimen. Wherever did you find this creature?"

The snake man looked like he was going to reply for a moment, probably with a scathing remark about her not belonging. Instead, a strange look overtook him. Red eyes travelled down, landing on her chest with an intensity she nearly flinched from. At first, she was offended. She had broken into his office, so somehow he thought it was okay to look her over like a piece of meat!? Although, she could use that to her advantage, maybe distract him a bit before she made her escape. Hopefully he was into shadows.

Before she could undo her cloak and embarrass herself the man spoke, "That book. I see it's found itself a new vessel. Give it to me and I will show you why it brought you to me."

Nesrith eyed the door and considered running for it before he could fight her for the book. _Give the book to him,_ the voice she knew better than her own whispered. Ever the obedient servant, Nesrith withdrew the Book of Vile Darkness from the inner pocket she had painstakingly sewn over her heart and handed it to the man.

Without pausing he took the book, opened it to a blank page, and severed his hand completely at the wrist. Dark black liquid oozed from the stump and splattered onto the crisp white pages. Watching with rapt attention, the black ooze was absorbed into the book and dark black words seemed to float as if from the depths of an ocean hidden beneath the pages until they were clear. Once the spell had surfaced, there was a brief moment in which the man who plainly knew what power it carried stared at the pages longingly. A spell started to form on her tongue, ready and willing to fight this man to the death to get the book back where it belonged. Before Nesrith could do anything he extended the book back to her. Written on the pages was a spell of corruption, taking a living breathing creature and sacrificing many souls to burn away the mortality and turn the being into an undead monstrosity that could churn the stomachs of a man 100 yards away. A feral grin spread across her face as she inhaled the smell of the fresh ink. The power in the room was palpable.

"My name is Hithothee. Once, I held that book that you now hold," As he spoke, Hithothee pulled off the amulet that rested at the hollow of his neck and a feeling of pure wrongness rippled across the room.

The spell he had given her had plainly been performed on him at some point. The amulet looped around his neck again and the feeling dissipated as if a smoke was clearing from the room after a fire was put out.

"It brings great power, that's what draws you to it isn't it?" Hithothee didn't give her an opportunity to respond before he continued, "It is also what draws them to you," with one hand he gestured through the closest window down at the plaza that had a few Knights walking through as they continued interrogating the citizens.

Folding his hands behind his back he continued, "It drew them to me as well. Not these ones specifically, but ones just like them. One's that worship those who seek evil in all its forms and cut it out, root and stem. I decided my life was too precious to give it in defense of that book."

A sneer broke out across her face at his weakness, "I don't care about them," she waved off the Knights below, "I don't care if I die in my pursuit of power. As long as I can burn some of this forsaken world before I go, as long as there is even a small chance I can rule over it all, I will keep trying."

Inside her an ocean of anger rolled and tossed her about. There had never been a place for her here, she had always been an outsider, an 'other', something that was lower than the dirt on the ground. She had lived her life hiding from everyone that could hurt her. Nothing would stop her now that she held the cards needed. Nothing would stop her from forcing this world to make room for her. Nesrith would do whatever she had to.

The determination and anger must have shone in her once green eyes, because the speech that Hithothee seemed to be working himself into never came. Rather, he just nodded once and turned back to the table with the corpse on it.

"Well, I am sure you were not lead here merely for my blood. You have a problem that you need help with."

"Yes, I've barely begun to assemble my army and already there are those Knights breathing down my neck. I need to get them out of my hair somehow."

A nod followed that as if it was exactly what he expected her to say, "I have something that could be of use to you," he moved over to a desk that sat across the room and reached into a drawer.

A small vial of black tar was what he pulled out. It had no significance to Nesrith, but Hithothee held it up as if it was black gold. With a bit of impatience, she shrugged and raised an eyebrow.

"This," he said with his rasping lisp, "is one of the ingredients that we use in our… product that I am sure you saw downstairs. If consumed in a high enough concentrations it can cause problems. What I can do for you, is perhaps this concoction ends up in the food supply of a neighboring town in the Federation. A break out of sickness caused by something like this would certainly take the attention of the Knights of Af away from Fillinor."

A spark lit behind his red eyes as he spoke of the destruction he was offering her, but she wasn't sold.

"What do you gain from this?" She asked.

The non-threatening demeanor he had been affecting dropped abruptly and he slid towards Nesrith menacingly, "You interest me. Either you will succeed in your goals or you will fail spectacularly. Regardless, it will be interesting to watch and it's been so long since something in this dreary world has been truly entertaining."

In his eyes she saw that he spoke the truth. Hithothee would murder her in a heartbeat if it served his best interests. Luckily for her, she would do the same. Looking down to his arms she saw his hand had grown back with a burst of strong magic. With a smile she extended a hand to shake his.

"I think this will work wonderfully."


End file.
